Restart Issues

indyagent · Post by **indyagent** » August 18th, 2005, 1:42 am

Lately my computer has a issue when it restarts. the bios will load but as the restart continues it comes to a grey screen with no words and just sticks there. it does not get past it no matter how long i wait,i can reboot using the restart button on the pc but that doesnt help. i can now only get on if i turn the computer off on the back of the tower and wait a few minutes. i have a p4 1.6 processor 512 of rd ram 64mb video card i have an ide controller card installed because i have 3 hard drives also a dvd burner, dvd drive and a cdrw drive i have a 450watt power supply and the tower is cooled by 3 fan plus the cpu fan. Any suggestions on what is causing this?

Post by **ccb056** » August 18th, 2005, 2:34 am

Well, if it's not an Operating System problem, which is sounds likes it's not because the OS will load, it sounds like bad hardware My guess in order would be power supply, RAM, or hard drive The best way to check the power supply is to test it with a good (antec) high wattage psu. To test the ram, google for memtest-86 and run that To test the hard drives, goto each manufacturer's website (IMB, western digital, maxtor) and download their bootable diagnostics

indyagent · Post by **indyagent** » August 18th, 2005, 2:39 am

well the power supply is less than 3 months old i had it replaced to get more wattage. so i would think that is not the problem. An odd thing happened earlier today i have C D and I hard drives and for some reason the D drive was missing from the list of drives under "my computer" i opened the computer and made sure the ide cables were snug as well as the power supply and nothing was loose but when i turned the computer back on the D drive was back. now the computer will run fine when it boots up the only problem is on startup before the Windows XP splash screen

Post by **ccb056** » August 18th, 2005, 2:41 am

will the computer get into windows?

indyagent · Post by **indyagent** » August 18th, 2005, 2:47 am

when it does this it does not get that far. it runs through the bios and right after that i get a screen that looks like the there is no data is the only way i can describe it just a dark grey screen turning the computer off in the back and waiting it allow me to use the computer just fine i did that a few hours ago and the computer has been on since then with no problems and there is no heat issue, i have a monitor and the heat is well contolled.

Post by **ccb056** » August 18th, 2005, 2:50 am

unplug everything you dont need to boot into windows: extra ram cards, pci cards, cd drives, flopopy drives, extra hard drives see if it still gives you the same problem, if not, then install all the ram if it starts giving you problems with all the ram installed, run memtest86

indyagent · Post by **indyagent** » August 18th, 2005, 2:52 am

you mean take out the ide controller card and unplug the D and I hard drives leaving only the C drive that windows in on. do i need a cd rom drive to open windows? should i unplug all my cd rom drives?

Post by **ccb056** » August 18th, 2005, 2:56 am

for windows, all you need is 1 hard drive, 1 ram stick, graphics, and motherboard and cpu

indyagent · Post by **indyagent** » August 18th, 2005, 2:58 am

well i have RD ram so i believe they come in pairs how do you run a test with memtest is it hard to do? is there a step by step on how to use it? wouldnt you try that first rather than taking everything off

Post by **ccb056** » August 18th, 2005, 3:00 am

you could test it first, good idea google for memtest86, the program can either be written on a bootable disk or cd, and then boot from the media, the test will then automatically run

indyagent · Post by **indyagent** » August 18th, 2005, 1:40 pm

I did the memtest86 program and it ran through its programs with no ram issues at all. it passed 100% i do have 3 hard drives 80,80,60GB 3 cd rom drives dvdrw,cdrw and dvdrom i have had this set up for a few years and my power supply went out it was a 300 watt so when i get a new one i got a 450watt i use the IDE controller card so i can have the extra hard drives and cd rom drives. i know that i could buy a single hard drive that would have more space than the ones i have combined but since it all works fine i keep it the way it is The DVDrw does not want to burn CD's very well it fails a lot so i have the CDRW for those functions. The DVDrw works wonderfully on DVD burning. So that is more info you fine people can work with , any ideas now? you guys are really being helpful

Thanks